State Budget Revised Twice This Year, Says Atom Janjughazyan

There has never been a case where the state budget has been legally revised twice within a year, with both revisions prompted by shocks assessed to have significant impacts, making it practically impossible to continue normal operations without revising the budget, said Armenia's Minister of Finance Atom Janjughazyan during discussions of the draft state budget for 2021 in the National Assembly's permanent committees.

According to him, the 2021 state budget was developed in the context of these circumstances. “Unlike last year’s optimistic expectations regarding global economic developments, which forecasted an economic growth of about 5% in Armenia, throughout the year there were revisions to the economic development forecasts, and those expectations have changed,” said Janjughazyan.

The minister emphasized that an economic downturn is currently forecasted in several countries around the world. “The goal has been set to restore economic growth and to increase potential. The amount allocated for capital programs in the draft budget for 2021 is 215 billion drams, which constitutes 3.2 percent of the projected GDP, exceeding our country’s historical average capacity for making capital expenditures. This means that a slightly higher threshold has been set than what we have historically been able to execute in terms of capital expenditures,” the minister noted.